Classy Heritage Stakes 2012 Nominations

The 2012 Heritage Stakes is set to run as part of the George Main Stakes Day action at Randwick Racecourse on Saturday and a number of promising three-year-olds have been nominated for this year’s race.

Queanbeyan-based horseman Layt is back this year looking for his second Heritage Stakes success on the trot with his up-and-coming Excites gelding Red Excitement.

A winner of two of their seven starts to date, Red Excitement bummed out in their Group 2 test when dead last behind superstar Pierro in the Todman Stakes last autumn, but they resumed at Canberra on August 31 with a bit three and a half length victory over 1080m.

There are two other last-start winners among the Heritage Stakes nominations for this year with the undefeated duo Relaxed And Happy and Destruction.

The Chris Waller-trained Exceed And Excel three-year-old Relaxed And Happy debuted at Newcastle back in July and won on a Heavy (8) track before backing up a fortnight later at Wyong to win by five lengths on another bog track.

They maintained their undefeated status at start number three on August 4 at Canterbury with another impressive three length success this time on Dead ground and make their black-type debut in the Heritage on Saturday.

John Thompson’s Fastnet Rock colt Destruction had two starts during the winter winning them both.

First-up they enjoyed a half-length victory over Kabayan at Rosehill before becoming a stakes winner at Doomben on June 11 with a win in the Listed Dalerello Stakes in the wet.

Also resuming off a spell on Saturday are the likes of Gerald Ryan’s lightly-raced Holy Roman Emperor filly Villa Splendido, and the Gai Waterhouse-trained Raceway.

More Than Ready rig Raceway was one of the top youngsters in Waterhouse’s crop of juveniles last season winning their opening two starts, including a Listed race at Warwick farm, before racing competitively at Group level in Sydney.

They also boast Group 1 experience having run fifth and fourth respectively to their star stablemate Pierro in the Golden Slipper and Inglis Sires Produce Stakes in the autumn before they failed to step up to the mile running last to Pierro again this time in the Champagne Stakes at Randwick on Sydney Cup Day.

Other notable Heritage Stakes hopefuls include the Anthony Cummings-trained General Nediym filly Agueda who boasts four second place Listed or Group performances most recently at Flemington on September 8, and another daughter of General Nediym in Allan Denham’s Ichihara – winner of the Group 2 Magic Night Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill back in March.

Check out the latest Heritage Stakes 2012 nominations in the table below, with the final field due for release on Wednesday.

Fancy a $400 bonus bet for this spring? Simply open a new account with bookmaker.com.au – Australia’s No. 1 online bookie – and quote the code BONUSBET when making your first deposit to have it matched 100 percent up to $400 as a bonus bet!